For some inexplicable reason, NPR decided to announce its special coverage of the UN climate talks in Paris with a question:

First off, clearly they think climate change matters – at least enough to warrant special, month-long coverage.

Also, surely someone at NPR is familiar with Betteridge’s Law of Headlines:

“Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”

It would be a bold move on NPR’s part, suggesting climate change doesn’t matter. But given their overall patchy coverage of the issue, maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised.

All of that said, the recent rise of the Cavuto mark seems to contradict Betteridge. When Fox News asks questions like “Have the Democrats forgotten the lessons of 9/11?” or “Is the liberal media helping to fuel terror?”, we can assume they expect their viewers to supply an answer of “yes”. Perhaps that is likewise NPR’s intent.

Either way, phrasing their headline as a question absolves NPR of being accountable for what they’re writing and makes the implicit claim that climate change is up for debate.

But it isn’t. So to answer your question, NPR: Yes, climate change matters. It’s possibly the only thing that matters at the moment, actually.